The latest Atlantic City casino industry report was released last Friday, and the Hard Rock Hotel Casino has to be happy with the findings. This was the first time the figures for the nine Atlantic City land-based casinos were compared with the quarterly numbers for 2018.
Hard Rock Casino and the Ocean Casino Resort have now been in business for just over a year. According to the latest findings from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), Hard Rock Atlantic City is trending up.
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In the quarterly report the Borgata Casino remained in top spot with a revenue stream of $234.5 million for the period of three months. In second place came Hard Rock with a revenue of $128.4 million, while Harrah’s Casino and Tropicana Casino were vying for third place with each having a revenue of just over $100 million.
One of the big things to look at in terms of the revenue stream is the gross operating profits. Borgata took that title for the quarter at $69.9 million. Hard Rock AC reported higher expense totals, which is why it came in at $24.4 million while Harrah’s and Tropicana came in at $33 million and $32.4 million respectively. Resorts Casino, which was the first in Atlantic City having opened in 1978, came in last place of the nine casinos with $9.3 million in gross profits.
The figures for the last quarter were the highest since the summer quarter of 2017.
There is now data for nine months this year. While Hard Rock is trending up, significant expenses leave it in seventh place overall. The casino had gross profits of $29.5 million, all but $5.1 million of which came in the third quarter of this year. Ocean Casino was the only one of the nine casinos that finished in the negative with losses of $2.5 million.
Borgata continues to flex its muscles in the Atlantic City casino industry, returning gross revenue of $165 million so far in 2019. That is in excess of a third of the total for all nine casinos of $484.6 million.
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Gross profits for AC casinos were a little over $500 million this time last year, which means profits are down to the tune of 4.5%. This year Borgata is the only casino that has had increased profits in 2019, and only by a marginal sum. This comes despite a double-figure increase in net revenue, which shows that the two newer casinos of Hard Rock and Oceans are cutting into the profit margins of the other casinos in the city.
The Atlantic City rate for hotel occupancy rose to 90.8% in the last quarter, which is higher than the same quarter last year of 88.2%. Ocean Casino has 1,399 rooms and had a whopping 99.6% occupancy rate in the quarter even though it has the highest average room rate at $219.01.
Borgata, which has nearly twice as many rooms as Ocean, had a solid occupancy rate of 91% and a room average of $184.77. The Golden Nugget has a mere 717 rooms and came in with the lowest average occupancy rate of 90.25%.
According to the DGE, the net revenue figures show the overall casino revenue minus allowances for various promotions, revenue from the rooms, food and beverage, and other revenue streams that show up on the properties’ income statements. Taxes, interest, affiliate amortization, depreciation, and other minor expenses are not taken into account when calculating gross operating profits.